Spats with Europe over rights and impending bread riots are furrowing eyebrows, write Gamal Nkrumah and Mohamed El-Sayed Reactions to the vexing question of European interference in the domestic affairs of Egypt predominated in the press. The vast majority of the pundits argued that the European Union has no business accessing Egypt's human rights record because such meddling in Egyptian affairs smacks of colonialism and imperialism. Europe does not have the high moral upper ground. However, some commentators were critical of the defensiveness of the government and were more accommodating of European criticism. Writing in the popular daily Al-Masry Al-Yom, Khaled Salah criticised the Egyptian official reaction to the report issued by the European Parliament which highlighted human rights violation in Egypt. "The reactions of the Foreign Minister [Ahmed Abul-Gheit] and the Speaker of the Parliament [Fathi Sorour] bear witness to the credibility of the report prepared by the European [Parliament] about human rights [violations] in Egypt. It is crystal clear that the parliament in our country always takes the side and defends the government in any situation, even if it committed mistakes. The parliament defends the government in all its ups and downs," Salah lamented. And, whenever it is criticised by any country in the world." Others saw a window of opportunity in European criticism of Egypt's human rights record. They viewed the European stance as a means of criticising the Egyptian government. Indeed, the daily opposition Al-Dostour ran a front-page headline about the European Parliament's move: "A fierce European blow to Mubarak's regime," ran the headline. Still, official papers fiercely defended Egypt's independence and sovereignty. As expected, pro-government newspapers harshly criticised the European Parliament's decision. Writing in the daily official Al-Akhbar, Galal Dweidar argued that "the decision is aimed at intimidating Egypt so that it could not play its role or shoulder its responsibility towards developments in the Middle East region, especially the Palestinian-Israeli conflict." Dweidar added "what is happening [to Egypt] emphasises the fact that Israel is not sincere about ending its animosities towards Egypt in spite of the Camp David peace treaty signed between the two countries. This also emphasises that Israel is still looking at Egypt as an obstacle in the way of Israeli expansion and hegemonic ambitions in the region." Once again, the food crisis -- inflation, food subsidies and shortages -- hit the headlines. The phenomenal increase in food prices alarmed commentators many of whom argued that it augured ill. Indeed, parallels were drawn between previous bread riots that precipitated political upheavals. Historically, bread riots have triggered social and political unrest in Egypt. Al-Masry Al-Yom ran a feature commemorating the bread riots that took place on 18 and 19 January 1977. The two-page feature wondered whether these riots could happen again because of skyrocketing commodity prices. "The riots will not take place again because the citizens of 2008 are weaker than those of 1977," a commentator was quoted as saying. Many an expert espoused this view. "Egyptians in the 1970s were more involved with politics, but now they are preoccupied with earning their livelihood only," prominent writer Osama Anwar Okasha was quoted as saying. While domestic concerns were the major preoccupation of most papers, foreign dealings, too, occupied an important niche, especially in the official papers. The daily official Al-Ahram continued to comment on the fall-out from the United States President George W Bush's last week visit to the region and Egypt. "Bush's tour in the region is an end of a phase," read the headline of Salama Ahmed Salama's op-ed. Salama, one of the country's most distinguished and highly respected commentators was dismissive of Bush's last minute efforts to salvage a peace agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The Arab world's top political writer Mohamed Hassanein Heikal came under intense fire from pro-government pundits. Heikal was criticised because of the timing and political import of articles he had recently published. He was also accused of having sinister motives and of being fond of political machinations. Heikal, however, desisted from not publishing his articles. He was characteristically in a defiant mood. Al-Masry Al-Yom continued publishing a series of six articles written by the Arab world's most celebrated political analyst Heikal. The articles, which took the form of open letters to President Mubarak, were written 25 years ago. "The Egyptian national security has two focuses: a southern axis to secure the safety of the River Nile, and a northern one which constitutes a 'land' bridge connecting Africa and Asia," Heikal explained. "The Camp David Agreement is a deal by virtue of which Egypt restores a degree of sovereignty over Sinai with constraints and conditions. The first of these conditions is: Egypt should get out of the Palestinian cause and the entire Arab world," he added. On an entirely different note, the daily business-oriented Al-Mal called upon the government to find a solution for the skyrocketing prices of commodities, as well as corruption, instead of thinking about canceling subsidies on basic commodities. "While the government is working day and night to cancel subsidies on basic commodities under the banner of 'rationalising expenditures', it doesn't exert enough efforts to expose the means through which billions of pounds worth of subsidised commodities -- which are earmarked for the poor -- are being squandered," wrote Mahmoud Kamel. Writing in the daily business-oriented Al-Alam Al-Yom, Moufid Fawzi tried to diagnose the state of affairs in Egypt. "I firmly believe that [mis]management is Egypt first and foremost problem. We speak about [good] management more than employing it as a science. We have discrimination in enforcing law, because some laws are applied to some people and are not applied to the elite," he lamented. While bread and butter issues absorbed the commentators, transport problems and the obnoxious and utterly frustrating problematic of traffic in Cairo was a major concern of a number of commentators. Among the most influential of these was the economic and business daily Al-Alam Al-Yom which reported that "the Egyptian economy loses LE65 billion annually because of traffic jams." Protecting the country's rich cultural heritage also proved to be a popular topic with certain pundits. The weekly magazine Akher Saa ran a feature about the new intellectual property law the Supreme Council of Antiquities which intends to formulate to impose a tax on every statue or construction modeled on ancient Egyptian antiquities. "The world does not want to see Egypt imposing an antiquities copyright law," the magazine quoted Zahi Hawass, secretary- general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, as saying. On a lighter and more mundane note, the magazine also ran a feature about imported natural hair. "The price of a gram of imported natural hair is LE500, which is more expensive than gold," ran the headline of the article. "India is the biggest exporter, and Egypt is the biggest importer of natural hair," Akher Saa reported.
